BHUBANESWAR: The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) has arrested a fraudster Somanath Adhikari who had duped two banks to the tune of ` seven crore and made a vanishing act.
Adhikari was detained at Delhi Airport on Friday evening following a tip-off from EOW while he was travelling from Mumbai. He was brought to the City later.
A resident of Lalbazaar in Baripada, Adhikari was on the run for four years. In 2007, he had applied for cash credit from SBI, SMECCC Branch at Bhubaneswar. Using fake documents such as electricity bills, voter ID card, rent and holding tax, he secured the loan. He also produced a fake guarantor who had impersonated as genuine. The accused not only obtained cash credit of `1.5 crore but also secure a bank guarantee of `10 lakh and ad hoc draft facility of `15 lakh from the bank. He never paid back and the loan turned bad.
In the same year, he had taken a loan of `5.25 crore from Centurion Bank of Punjab Ltd which later merged with HDFC Bank. Here too, he did not pay back. In both cases, the EOW had registered cases and was on the look-out for Adhikari.
The accused was produced before the SDJM Court here.